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I am playing against a friend soon and I am bringing orks and he is bringing tyranids. This is my first time playing against them so what should I take and what tactics should I use. (not sure whether this thread should be in tactics or army lists).
I was thinking something like this :


HQ - Ghazhkull Thraka 225
- Warboss w/ PK, BP, Attack squig and TL shoota. 110
ELITES - 5 burna boys w/mek 75
- 10 lootas w/ 2 meks 150
- 5 tankbustas w/ nob eavy armour + bosspole 95
TROOPS - 10 nobs w/ painboy, all have power claws, all have bosspoles. 500
- 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170
- 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170
- 25 gretchin w/ 2 runtherds 95
- 25 gretchin w/ 2 runtherds 95
FAST ATTACK - 10 stormboys 120
- 3 warbuggies w/big shootas, RPJ 105
HEAVY SUPPORT - Looted wagon w/boomgun, 2 big shootas, RPJ 125
- 3 killa kans w/skorchas 120
- 3 lobba big gunz 75

This list is 2230 points, what can I lose to make the list around 2000 points. Am I writing the list right? Should I be focusing on close combat over firepower or firepower over close combat?

Thanks for your help in advance.

From my personal experiance watching my Ork friend play a nid army... You are more than quarantied to lose CC... But Orks do wonders by outshooting them! I don't have the ork codex on me at the moment so i don't know the point costs for things but 1 thing you can do is downgrade Ghaz to a regular warboss, to me hes too many points. The tank bustas are completely worthless against nids since they have no vehicles, they can go around big bug hunting but for the points you could do better, lootas are amazing! even against the large bugs, there isn't 1 bug those lootas couldn't hurt, The burna boys are solid but i'd suggest more of them in a battlewagon to go bug roasting, The large mob of nobz seem good for big bug squishing, just make sure they dont get locked in CC with the smaller ones. I'm not a fan of grots and against bugs they will get torn to shreds, i'd suggest dropping both mobs and adding another large shoota boy squad, The kans are nice and so are the big guns. I'd take off the extra big shootas on the looted wagon, they will only ever snap fire thanks to your large ordanance gun. Drop the stormboyz, they will just get mowed down or slaughtered in CC, Take dakkajets if you can those things are amazing against bugs, and finally i'd either drop the buggies or give them skorchas or rokkits.

Hope i helped you in some way!

Thanks man that will really help. Changing the list to this:
(Most of the things you listed I don't have models for so this is the best I can do)
Will this work better or worse?

HQ - Warboss w/ PK, BP, Attack squig, TL shoota 95
- Warboss w/ PK, BP, Attack squig, TL shoota 95
ELITES - 10 lootas w/ 2 meks 150
- 5 tankbustas 75
TROOPS - 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170
- 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170
- 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170
- 10 nobs w/ painboy, 9 PKs, 9 BP 500
- 10 nobs w/ painboy, big choppas, BPs 300
HEAVY SUPPORT - Looted wagon w/ boomgun, RPJ 115
- 3 killa kans w/skorchas 120
- 3 big lobbas gunz 75

2035 points

Tankbustas are gold against nids! S8 AP3 and no vehicles that you must target.

Small units of burnas could be usefull

Shootas and big shootas should be usefull against gants and gaunts, I would use more and bigger mobs tho.

Way too many PKs on the nobs and way too many Walking nobs, max 1 or 2 PKs per mob. You dont need bosspoles on all the nobs, 1or 2 is enough

You will have serious problems getting the warbosses and the nobs into action (half your Points!)

You can probably handle one flyrant with your lootas but not two.

i dont have an ork codex with me, but here are my thoughts.

Tank bustas -- worthless. sub them in as lootas or something. the more lootas the better.

the nobs with PKs, dont take all PKs. You're taking them to take out the big creatures right? Well at initiative 1, you can just assume that you're going to lose probably 2-3 before you even hit. Take a few with big choppas instead, saves you some points. only take 5 PKs or less. Use the other bodies to protect your PKs.

Put your nobs in trukks.

Advance as a whole army. Don't go racing off with just your 2 trukks and 3 killa kans. If he brings a shooty army, charge him, but if he's mostly melee, let him come to you, and then protect your ork boys from melee with your nobs and killa kans.

If he brings the Doom of Malantai, for the love of God SPREAD OUT your units. lol. The doom will eat you for break fast. Assault the Doom with your killakans.

All in all, you have a good amount of shooting and template, but the MC might give you trouble. Nids are tending to go MC armies instead of hordes nowadays with 6th ed. I suggest taking as many lootas as you can possibly sub in.

 migs6357 wrote:

HQ - Ghazhkull Thraka 225 He's a beast, but he needs a transport. To cut points, how about using him as a Mega Armored Warboss?

- Warboss w/ PK, BP, Attack squig and TL shoota. 110 2 Warbosses? Let's get a Big Mek with a KFF so you can survive any Nid shooting
Big Mek - KFF, Cybork Body, Bosspole = 100

ELITES - 5 burna boys w/mek 75 While anti-horde could be helpful, 5 Burnas will fall apart like wet tissues. Stick to Shoota Boyz.

- 10 lootas w/ 2 meks 150 Please just use the Meks as proxy Lootas. Otherwise, you're wasting those points (or just drop them down to 8)

- 5 tankbustas w/ nob eavy armour + bosspole 95 Can they kill MC's? Yes. Will they do it accurately? No.

TROOPS - 10 nobs w/ painboy, all have power claws, all have bosspoles. 500 AAAAHHHH! Bad! Bad! Bad! This is not a game of Dawn of War, you don't want PK's on all of your Nobz! I highly recommend you either go with the alternative in Green or 19 Slugga Boyz in a Battlewagon. Let's try this: 8 Nobz, 1 Power Klaw (the Warboss gives another), 2 Big Choppas, 1 WAAAGH! Banner, Painboy Upgrade, Cybork Bodies for all. That's 280 points and will be much better. You'll also need a transport, so at least a Trukk with Reinforced Ram, though a Battlewagon would be Nicer.

- 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170 This is fine.

- 20 boys w/shootas, 2 bigshootas + nob w/ bosspole and PK 170 This is fine.

More Boyz!

- 25 gretchin w/ 2 runtherds 95 What are these guys going to do? Probably just die.

- 25 gretchin w/ 2 runtherds 95 What are these guys going to do? Probably just die.

FAST ATTACK - 10 stormboys 120 What are these guys going to do? Probably just die. They don't pack enough punch against most things and can't take any hits back.
- 3 warbuggies w/big shootas, RPJ 105 These could work. I personally prefer Deffkoptas with TL Rokkits. Those will kill MC's.

HEAVY SUPPORT - Looted wagon w/boomgun, 2 big shootas, RPJ 125 Eh, if you really want it. It could be useful, but it'll fail you in some games.

- 3 killa kans w/skorchas 120 Grotzookas.

- 3 lobba big gunz 75 These are fine. Remember Pinning!

If you want a squad of Nobz that will stomp just about anything the Tyranids can throw against you, including Tervigons or Hive Tyrants, this is the Nob squad that I run, and I play against Nids all the time.

6 Nobs, Painboy, Cybork

Nob 1 w/ PowerKlaw + Bosspole
Nob 2 w/ PowerKlaw
Nob 3 w/ Big Choppa
Nob 4 w/ Big Choppa
Nob 5 vanilla
Nob 6 vanilla
Painboy

That should be all you need in terms of Nobz. Keep the Vanilla Nobz in front to absorb the first wounds. Protect your Painboy and the PowerKlaw Nob with the Bosspole. They are best delivered in a Battlewagon, but from your list I'm not sure if you have one or not. This squad of Nobz will most likely kill a Tervigon or Hive Tyrant in a single turn if you get the charge. It's significantly cheaper than 9 Nobz with PowerKlaws.

I should add that if you're low on points and you want to trim the mob down in size to only 5 Nobz plus the painboy, you can easily ditch one of the vanilla Nobz. Against Nids, having a couple vanilla Nobz can be helpful just because of the extra attacks they give you when you end up in combat with some Termigaunts or anything else that doesn't need a Big Choppa or PK to hurt.

Murrdox wrote:
If you want a squad of Nobz that will stomp just about anything the Tyranids can throw against you, including Tervigons or Hive Tyrants, this is the Nob squad that I run, and I play against Nids all the time.

6 Nobs, Painboy, Cybork

Nob 1 w/ PowerKlaw + Bosspole
Nob 2 w/ PowerKlaw
Nob 3 w/ Big Choppa
Nob 4 w/ Big Choppa
Nob 5 vanilla
Nob 6 vanilla
Painboy

That should be all you need in terms of Nobz. Keep the Vanilla Nobz in front to absorb the first wounds. Protect your Painboy and the PowerKlaw Nob with the Bosspole. They are best delivered in a Battlewagon, but from your list I'm not sure if you have one or not. This squad of Nobz will most likely kill a Tervigon or Hive Tyrant in a single turn if you get the charge. It's significantly cheaper than 9 Nobz with PowerKlaws.

I should add that if you're low on points and you want to trim the mob down in size to only 5 Nobz plus the painboy, you can easily ditch one of the vanilla Nobz. Against Nids, having a couple vanilla Nobz can be helpful just because of the extra attacks they give you when you end up in combat with some Termigaunts or anything else that doesn't need a Big Choppa or PK to hurt.

I have the exact nob list except mine are on bikes

 zammerak wrote:

Murrdox wrote:
If you want a squad of Nobz that will stomp just about anything the Tyranids can throw against you, including Tervigons or Hive Tyrants, this is the Nob squad that I run, and I play against Nids all the time.

6 Nobs, Painboy, Cybork

Nob 1 w/ PowerKlaw + Bosspole
Nob 2 w/ PowerKlaw
Nob 3 w/ Big Choppa
Nob 4 w/ Big Choppa
Nob 5 vanilla
Nob 6 vanilla
Painboy

That should be all you need in terms of Nobz. Keep the Vanilla Nobz in front to absorb the first wounds. Protect your Painboy and the PowerKlaw Nob with the Bosspole. They are best delivered in a Battlewagon, but from your list I'm not sure if you have one or not. This squad of Nobz will most likely kill a Tervigon or Hive Tyrant in a single turn if you get the charge. It's significantly cheaper than 9 Nobz with PowerKlaws.

I should add that if you're low on points and you want to trim the mob down in size to only 5 Nobz plus the painboy, you can easily ditch one of the vanilla Nobz. Against Nids, having a couple vanilla Nobz can be helpful just because of the extra attacks they give you when you end up in combat with some Termigaunts or anything else that doesn't need a Big Choppa or PK to hurt.

I have the exact nob list except mine are on bikes

So does it work?

Give me a moment and I'll give a more detailed analysis. But keep it up with the Tankbustaz.

I'm not sure what stuff you have available but killa kans with grotzookas are amazing, strength 6 wounding on a 2+ and ignoring most guants saves. Then lootas are a must, with strength 7 even the big ones will get hurt and they are pumping out so many shots that they can take out almost anything. Next there is always the burna-wagon tactic, you can move flat out and still get several d3 hits. Also you could always proxy gaz as a mega armored warbosss to shave some points. Hope this helps and you do well.

Ghaz was a good call, ive had very pleasant results from bringing him against a Nid army since except the swarmlord (which he can still cause a lot of hurt to, mind you) he goes Omnomnomnom MC taste good! Reason is anti-instapaste and 2+ invul for 2 rounds (which if against a regular MC, and hehas his wounds, you can get away without even calling it). +1 attack, WS, and Wound doesnt sound like its worth the ~95 extra points...because it isnt...its the invul save and eternal warrior. If you know for a fact he will find combat and against Nidz he will, bring him. Normal bosses will die to a single smash attack from any MC if they fail their 5+ invul.

However aside from him, you will lose close combat majority of the time. What could work is big blobs of boyz, lootas, kannons and Ghaz sitting there going "Come at me bro" and have Ghaz take them head on when they show up.

Also, ditch the kans. Theyre stupid easy to kill, fairly pricy, and a 3Kannon battery will do more damage at shooting since it has the option to take out big things as well as hordes with the pi plate (for a -1str on the blast but better range). Yes its less pi plates, but atleast in my experience the big bugs are more of an issue than the swarms of stuff because of the mass of wounds behind that 3+ armor...which kannons pen and wound on 2s (unless they spell up to T7-9, then it depends). Back to the kans, you could argue they can melee whereas the kannons cannot but theyre WS2, which is pretty crappy since they only have a couple hits anyway.

Yeah I put my bikes on the table for the first time, quite deadly!